A problem with setting up telecommunications connections today is the difficulty of locating called individuals who are highly mobile. This problem is partially alleviated by mobile telephone technology and radio paging systems. However, a caller typically must place several calls to reach a particular individual, one call to each particular type of communication system of which that individual is a subscriber.
A particular prior art approach to reducing the number of calls necessary to reach an individual have combined: a) telephone numbers assigned to individuals rather than locations (personal telephone numbers), b) incoming call management techniques, c) radio paging technology and d) mobile telephone technology. More particularly, the prior art system 1) receives a call from a caller to the personal number of a called individual, 2) places the received call on hold, 3) pages the called individual, and 4) connects the caller to the called individual if the latter places a return call to a predetermined number. See the commonly-assigned copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/667,734, filed Mar. 11, 1991. A call established by this type of system is not transparent to the called individual, i.e., the called individual perceives the reception of such a call differently from the reception of an ordinary telephone call. This is because the called individual must locate a telephone upon receipt of the page and, thereafter, take the action of making the return call. Moreover, the caller may have ended the call, i.e., decided to "hang up", by the time the called individual completes the return call. In this case, the called individual may become confused as he determines that he has made the return call in vain.